Skinnable touch device grip patterns

ABSTRACT

Skinnable touch device grip pattern techniques are described herein. A touch-aware skin may be configured to substantially cover the outer surfaces of a computing device. The touch-aware skin may include a plurality of skin sensors configured to detect interaction with the skin at defined locations. The computing device may include one or more modules operable to obtain input from the plurality of skin sensors and decode the input to determine grips patterns that indicate how the computing device is being held by a user. Various functionality provided by the computing device may be selectively enabled and/or adapted based on a determined grip pattern such that the provided functionality may change to match the grip pattern.

BACKGROUND

One of the challenges that faces designers of devices havinguser-engageable displays, such as touchscreen displays, pertains toproviding enhanced functionality for users, through gestures that can beemployed with the devices. This is so, not only with devices havinglarger or multiple screens, but also in the context of devices having asmaller footprint, such as tablet PCs, hand-held devices, mobile phone,smaller multi-screen devices and the like.

Due in part to the small size of some devices and touchscreens, thetypes and number “on-screen” gestures (e.g., gestures applied to atouchscreen) that can be provided by a particular device may be limited.Moreover, on-screen gestures may interfere with content presentations insome contexts, such as by occluding a video presentation or a portion ofdigital book a user is viewing. Accordingly, traditional on-screengestures and input techniques may limit users and/or may be insufficientin some scenarios, use cases, or specific contexts of use.

SUMMARY

Skinnable touch device grip pattern techniques are described. In one ormore embodiments, a computing device is configured to include atouch-aware skin. The touch-aware skin may cover substantially the outersurfaces of the computing device that are not occupied by othercomponents such as a display device, camera, buttons, and othercontrols. The touch-aware skin may include a plurality of skin sensorscapable of detecting interaction with the skin at defined locations. Thecomputing device may include one or more modules operable to obtaininput from the plurality of skin sensors and decode the input todetermine grips patterns that indicate how the computing device is beingheld by a user. Various functionality provided by the computing devicemay be selectively enabled and/or adapted based on a determined grippattern such that the provided functionality may change to match thegrip pattern.

This Summary is provided to introduce a selection of concepts in asimplified form that are further described below in the DetailedDescription. This Summary is not intended to identify key features oressential features of the claimed subject matter, nor is it intended tobe used as an aid in determining the scope of the claimed subjectmatter.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The detailed description is described with reference to the accompanyingfigures. In the figures, the left-most digit(s) of a reference numberidentifies the figure in which the reference number first appears. Theuse of the same reference numbers in different instances in thedescription and the figures may indicate similar or identical items.

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example implementation of an environmentthat is operable to employ skinnable touch device grip patterntechniques described herein.

FIG. 2 depicts details of an example computing device that includes atouch-aware skin.

FIG. 3 depicts an example implementation of a touch-aware skin for acomputing device.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting an example procedure to detect a grippattern in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 5 is a flow diagram depicting an example procedure to identify auser based on a grip pattern in accordance with one or more embodiments.

FIG. 6 is a flow diagram depicting an example procedure to usedesignated sensor locations of a touch-aware skin to define grippatterns and selectively enable device functionality.

FIG. 7 illustrates various components of an example system that can beemployed in one or more embodiments to implement aspects of skinnabletouch device grip pattern techniques described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Overview

Skinnable touch device grip pattern techniques are described. In one ormore embodiments, a computing device is configured to include atouch-aware skin. The touch-aware skin may cover multiple surfaces (e.g.at least two surfaces) and/or substantially cover the outer surfaces ofthe computing device. The touch-aware skin may include a plurality ofskin sensors configured to detect interaction with the skin at definedlocations. This may include detecting direct contact, proximity to theskin, forces applied to the skin, deformation, and so forth. Thecomputing device may include one or more modules, such as a skin drivermodule, operable to obtain input from the plurality of skin sensors anddecode the input to determine grips patterns that indicate how thecomputing device is being held by a user. Various functionality providedby the computing device may be selectively enabled and/or adapted basedon a determined grip pattern, such that the provided functionalitymatches the grip pattern. Thus, different interactions with atouch-aware skin may be employed to cause corresponding responses by adevice and enable different device functionality. Grip patterns andinput detected via a touch-aware skin may be used alone and/or incombination with other kinds of input and aspects of device usageincluding but not limited to contact, gestures, and touch interactionrecognized via a touchscreen; motion of the device captured via inertialsensors; and/or operation of controls such as physical buttons,switches, levers, and keys provided by the device.

In the following discussion, an example environment is first describedthat is operable to employ the skinnable touch device grip patterntechniques described herein. Example devices and procedures are thendescribed, which may be employed in the example environment, as well asin other environments. Accordingly, the example devices and proceduresare not limited to the example environment and the example environmentmay incorporate devices and procedures in addition to the examplesdescribed herein. Lastly, an example computing system is described thatcan be employed to implement skinnable touch device grip patterntechniques in one or more embodiments.

Operating Environment

FIG. 1 is an illustration of an example operating environment 100 thatis operable to employ the techniques described herein. The operatingenvironment includes a computing device 102 having a processing system104 and computer-readable media 106 that is representative of variousdifferent types and combinations of media, memory, and storagecomponents and/or devices that may be associated with a computingdevice. The computing device 102 is further illustrated as including anoperating system 108 and one or more device applications 110 that mayreside on the computer-readable media (as shown), may be implemented atleast partially by one or more hardware elements, and/or may be executedvia the processing system 104. Computer-readable media 106 may includeboth “computer-readable storage media” and “communication media,”examples of which can be found in the discussion of the examplecomputing system of FIG. 7. The computing device 102 may be configuredas any suitable computing system and/or device that employ variousprocessing systems 104 examples of which are also discussed in relationto the example computing system of FIG. 7.

In the depicted example, the computing device 102 includes a displaydevice 112 that may be configured as a touchscreen to enable touchscreenand gesture functionality. The device applications 110 may include adisplay driver, gesture module, and/or other modules operable to providetouchscreen and gesture functionality enabled by the display device 112.Accordingly, the computing device may be configured to recognize inputand gestures that cause corresponding operations to be performed.

For example, a gesture module may be configured to recognize a touchinput, such as a finger of a user's hand 114 as on or proximate to thedisplay device 112 of the computing device 102 using touchscreenfunctionality. A variety of different types of gestures may berecognized by the computing device including, by way of example and notlimitation, gestures that are recognized from a single type of input(e.g., touch gestures) as well as gestures involving multiple types ofinputs. For example, can be utilized to recognize single-finger gesturesand bezel gestures, multiple-finger/same-hand gestures and bezelgestures, and/or multiple-finger/different-hand gestures and bezelgestures. Further, the computing device 102 may be configured to detectand differentiate between gestures, touch inputs, grip patterns, astylus input, and other different types of inputs. Moreover, variouskinds of inputs obtained from different sources, including the gestures,touch inputs, grip patterns, stylus input and inputs obtained through amouse, touchpad, software or hardware keyboard, and/or hardware keys ofa device (e.g., input devices), may be used in combination to causecorresponding device operations.

To implement skinnable touch device grip pattern techniques, thecomputing device 102 may further include a skin driver module 116 and atouch-aware skin 118 that includes or otherwise makes uses of aplurality of skin sensors 120. The skin driver module 116 representfunctionality operable to obtain and use various input from thetouch-aware skin 118 that is indicative of grip patterns, user identity,“on-skin” gestures applicable to the skin, and so forth. The skin drivermodule 116 may process and decode input that is received through variousskin sensors 120 defined for and/or disposed throughout the touch-awareskin 118 to recognize such grip patterns, user identity, and/or“on-skin” gestures and cause corresponding actions. Generally, the skinsensors 120 may be configured in various ways to detect actual contact(e.g., touch) and/or near surface interaction (proximity detection) witha device, examples of which are discussed in greater detail below.

For example, a grip pattern indicating a particular manner in which auser is holding or otherwise interacting with the computing device 102may be detected and used to drive and/or enable functionality of thecomputing device 102 associated with the grip pattern. Recognition ofgrip patterns and other on-skin input through a touch-aware skin 118 istherefore distinguishable from recognition of touchscreen input/gestures(e.g., “on-screen” gestures) applied to a display device 112 asdiscussed above. The touch-aware skin 118 and display device 112 may beimplemented as separate components through which on-skin and on-screeninputs may respectively be received independently of one another. In atleast some embodiments, though, combinations of on-skin input andtouchscreen input/gestures may be configured to drive associatedactions. The touch-aware skin 118 and skin sensors 120 may beimplemented in various ways, examples of which are discussed in relationto the following figures.

Having described an example operating environment, consider now adiscussion of some example implementation details regarding atouch-aware skin suitable to implement techniques for skinnable touchdevice grip patterns in one or more embodiments.

Touch-Aware Skin Details

In this section, details regarding a touch-aware skin are described inrelation to example devices of FIG. 2 and FIG. 3. A touch-aware skin isgenerally configured to enable various on-skin input and/or gesturesthat are applied to the outer surfaces and/or housing of a computingdevice 102 that includes the touch-aware skin. Such on-skin input may beused in addition to, in lieu of, and/or in combination with other kindsof input including touchscreen input and input from various inputdevices.

In particular, FIG. 2 depicts generally at 200 an example computingdevice 102 of FIG. 1 that includes a touch-aware skin 118 having aplurality of skin sensors 120. FIG. 2 illustrates an array or grid ofskin sensors 120 that are disposed at locations across the touch-awareskin 118. In particular, example surfaces 202 and 204 of the computingdevice 102 are depicted as having skin sensors 120 that are arrangedacross the surfaces in a pattern or grid. Naturally, coverage of skinsensors 120 may also extend across edges and other surfaces of a device,such skin sensors are associated with substantially the availablesurfaces of the device.

The touch-aware skin 118 can be configured as an integrated part of thehousing for a device. The touch-aware skin 118 may also be provided asan attachable and/or removable add-on for the device that can beconnected through a suitable interface, such as being incorporated withan add-on protective case. Further, the touch-aware skin 118 may beconstructed of various materials. For example, the touch-aware skin 118may be formed of rigid metal, plastic, touch-sensitive pigments/paints,and/or rubber. The touch-aware skin 118 may also be constructed usingflexible materials that enable bending, twisting, and other deformationsof the device that may be detected through associated skin sensors 120.According, the touch-aware skin 118 may be configured to enabledetection of one or more of touches on the skin (direct contact),proximity to the skin (e.g., hovering just above the skin and/or otherproximate inputs), forces applied to the skin (pressure, torque, sheer),deformations of the skin (bending and twisting), and so forth. To do so,a touch-aware skin 118 may include various different types and numbersof skin sensors 120.

The skin sensors 120 may be formed as physical sensors that are arrangedat respective locations within or upon the touch-aware skin 118. Forinstance, sensors may be molded within the skin, affixed in, under, oron the skin, produced by joining layers to form a touch-aware skin, andso forth. In one approach, sensors may be molded within the touch-awareskin 118 as part of the molding process for the device housing or anexternal add-on skin device. Sensors may also be stamped into the skin,micro-machined around a housing/case, connected to a skin surface, orotherwise be formed with or attached to the skin. Skin sensors 120 maytherefore be provided on the exterior, interior, and/or within the skin.Thus, the skin sensors 120 depicted in FIG. 2 may represent differentlocations associated with a skin at which different sensors may bephysically placed.

In another approach, the skin may be composed of one or more continuoussections of a touch-aware material that are formed as a housing orcovering for a computing device. A single section or multiple sectionsjoined together may be employed to form a skin. In this case, the one ormore continuous sections may be logically divided into multiple sensorlocations that may be used to differentiate between different on skininputs. Thus, the skin sensors 120 depicted in FIG. 2 may representlogical locations associated with a skin at which different sensors maybe logically placed.

A variety of different kinds of skins sensors 120 are contemplated. Skinsensors 120 provide at least the ability to distinguish betweendifferent locations at which contact with the skin is made by a user'stouch, an object, or otherwise. For example suitable skin sensors 120may include, but are not limited to, individual capacitive touchsensors, wire contacts, pressure-sensitive skin material, thermalsensors, micro wires extending across device surfaces that are moldedwithin or upon the surfaces, micro hairs molded or otherwise formed onthe exterior of the device housing, capacitive or pressure sensitivesheets, and the like.

Some skin sensors 120 of a device may also be configured to provideenhanced capabilities, such as fingerprint recognition, thermal data,force and shear detection, skin deformation data, contact number/sizedistinctions, and so forth. Thus, a plurality of sensors and materialsmay be used to create a physical and/or logical array or grid of skinsensors 120 as depicted in FIG. 2 that define particular locations ofthe skin at which discrete on skin input may be detected, captured, andprocessed.

To further illustrate, FIG. 3 depicts generally at 300 another examplecomputing device 102 of FIG. 1 that includes a touch-aware skin 118having a plurality of skin sensors 120. In this example, the skinsensors are configured as wire sensors 302 disposed across surfaces ofthe device to form a grid. The wire sensors 302 may be molded into amylar, rubber, or other suitable device housing or case. As depicted,the wires establish a grid upon which various contacts points 304 from auser's hand 114 (or other objects) may be detected and tracked. Forinstance, the grid may be calibrated to create a defined coordinatesystem that a skin driver module 116 can recognize to process inputs andcause corresponding actions. Thus, skin sensors 120, such as the examplewire sensors 302, can be used to determine particular grip patternsand/or gestures applied to the skin of a device that drive particularoperations and/or selectively enable particular device functionality.

Having described some details regarding a touch-aware skin, consider nowsome example procedures for skinnable touch device grip patterns inaccordance with one or more embodiments.

Example Procedures

The following discussion describes skinnable touch device grip patternstechniques that may be implemented utilizing the previously describedsystems and devices. Aspects of each of the procedures may beimplemented in hardware, firmware, software, or a combination thereof.The procedures are shown as a set of blocks that specify operationsperformed by one or more devices and are not necessarily limited to theorders shown for performing the operations by the respective blocks. Inportions of the following discussion, reference will be made to theenvironment 100 and example devices 200 and 300 of FIGS. 2 and 3,respectively. In at least some embodiments, the procedures may beperformed by a suitably configured computing device, such as the examplecomputing device 102 of FIG. 1 that includes or otherwise make use of askin driver module 116 to control a touch-aware skin 118.

FIG. 4 depicts an example procedure 400 in which a grip pattern for adevice is detected. Input is obtained that is associated with one ormore skin sensors of a touch-aware skin for a computing device (block402). The input may be obtained through various sensors associated witha device. For example, a skin driver module 116 may obtain input viavarious skin sensors 120 of a touch-aware skin 118 as describedpreviously. The input may correspond to contact points by a user orobject upon or proximate to the surfaces of the device. The skin drivermodule 116 may be configured to detect, decode, and process inputassociated with the touch-aware skin to adapt the behavior/functionalityof the device accordingly.

In particular, a grip pattern is detected based upon the input (block404). A variety of different grip patterns that are detectable by a skindriver module 116 may be defined for a device. In general, the grippatterns are defined to correspond to different ways in which a user mayhold a device, rest a device against an object, set a device down,orient the device, place the device (e.g., on a table, in a stand, in abag, etc.), and so forth. Each particular grip pattern is specified by aparticular pattern of touch interaction and/or contact points with theskin at designated locations. A variety of parameters for contacts canbe used to define different grip patterns including but not limited tothe size, location, shape, orientation, applied pressure (e.g., hard orsoft), and/or number of contact points.

By way of example, a user may hold a tablet device with one hand suchthat the user's thumb contacts the front “viewing” surface and theuser's fingers are placed behind the device for support. Holding thetablet device in this manner creates a particular combination of contactpoints that may defined as one grip pattern. A variety of other examplegrip patterns are also contemplated. A skin driver module 116 may beencoded with or otherwise make use of a database of different grippattern definitions that relate to different ways a device may be heldor placed. Accordingly, the skin driver module 116 may reference grippattern definitions to recognize and differentiate between differentinteraction with a touch-aware skin of a computing device.

A context is ascertained for the computing device that is associatedwith the detected grip pattern (block 406) and interaction with thecomputing device is selectively customized according to the ascertainedcontext (block 408). For example, the skin driver module 116 may beconfigured to associate different grip patterns with different contextsfor interaction with the device. The different contexts may be used tocause corresponding actions such as customizing device operation,adapting device functionality, enabling/disabling features, optimizingthe device and otherwise selectively performing actions that match acurrent context. Thus, the behavior of a device may change according todifferent contexts.

In other words, different grip patterns may be indicative of differentkinds of user and/or device activities. For instance, the example aboveof holding a tablet device may be associated with a reading context.Different types of holds and corresponding grip patterns may beassociated with other contexts, such as watching a video, web-browsing,making a phone call, and so forth. The skin driver module 116 may beconfigured to support various contexts and corresponding adaptations ofa device. Accordingly, grip patterns can be detected to discovercorresponding contexts, differentiate between different contexts, andcustomize or adapt a device in various ways to match a current context,some illustrative examples of which are described just below.

For instance, grip position can be used as a basis for modifying deviceuser interfaces to optimize the user interfaces for a particular contextand/or grip pattern. For example, the positions of windows, pop-ops,menus and commands may be moved depending on where a device is beinggripped. Thus, if a grip pattern indicates that a user is holding adevice in their left hand, a dialog box that is triggered may appearopposite the position of the grip, e.g., towards the right side of adisplay for the device. Likewise, a right-handed or two-handed grip maycause corresponding adaptations to positions for windows, pop-ups, menusand commands. This helps to avoid occlusions and facilitate interactionwith the user interface by placing items in locations that are optimizedfor grip.

In another example, a soft keyboard may be optimized based on gripposition. For example, the location and size of keyboard may change tomatch a grip pattern. This may include altering the keyboard based onorientation of the device determined at least partially through a grippattern. In addition, algorithms used in a text input context forkeyboard key hits, word predictions, spelling corrections, and so forthmay be tuned according to grip pattern. This may involve adaptivelyincreasing and or decreasing the sensitivity of keyboard keys as a grippattern used to interact with the device changes.

Grip patterns determined through skin sensors can also assist indifferentiating between intentional inputs (e.g., explicit gestures) andgrip-based touches that may occur based upon a user's hand positionswhen holding a device. This can occur by selectively changingtouchscreen and/or “on-skin” touch sensitivity based upon grip patternsat selected locations. For instance, sensitivity of a touchscreen can bedecreased at one or more locations proximate to hand positions (e.g. at,surrounding, and/or adjacent to determined contact points) associatedwith holding a device and/or increased in other areas. Likewise, skinsensor sensitivity for “on-skin” interaction can be adjusted accordingto a grip pattern by selectively turning sensitivity of one or moresensors up or down. Adjusting device sensitivities in this manner candecrease the chances of a user unintentionally triggering touch-basedcontrols and responses due particular to hand positions and/or grips.

In another approach, different grip patterns may be used to activatedifferent areas and/or surfaces of a device for touch-based interaction.Because sensors are located on multiple different surfaces, the multiplesurfaces may be used individually and/or in varying combinations atdifferent times for input and gestures. A typical tablet device ormobile phone has six surfaces (e.g., front, back, top edge, bottom edge,right edge, and left edge) which may be associated with sensors and usedfor various techniques described herein. Additionally, differentsurfaces may be selectively activated in different contexts. Thus, thetouch-aware skin 118 enables implementation of various “on-skin”gestures that may be recognized through interaction with the skin on anyone or more of the device surfaces. Moreover, a variety of combinationgestures that combine on-skin input and on-screen input applied to atraditional touchscreen may also be enabled for a device having atouch-aware skin 118 as described herein.

Consider by way of example a default context in which skin sensors onthe edges of a device may be active for grip sensing, but may bedeactivated for touch input. One or more edges of the device may becomeactive for touch inputs in particular contexts as the context changes.In one example scenario, a user may hold a device with two hands locatedgenerally along the short sides of the device in a landscapeorientation. In this scenario, a top edge of the device is notassociated with grip-based contacts and therefore may be activated fortouch inputs/gestures, such as enabling volume or brightness control bysliding a finger along the edge or implementing other on-skin controlson the edge such as soft buttons for a camera shutter, zoom functions,pop-up menu toggle, and/or other selected device functionality. If auser subsequently changes their grip, such as to hold the device alongthe longer sides in a portrait orientation, the context changes, theskin driver module 116 detects the change in context, and the top edgepreviously activated may be deactivated for touch inputs/gestures or maybe switched to activate different functions in the new context.

In another example scenario, a user may interact with a device toview/render various types of content (e.g., webpages, video, digitalbooks, etc.) in a content viewing context. Again, the skin driver module116 may operate to ascertain the context at least in part by detecting agrip pattern via a touch-aware skin 118. In this content viewingcontext, a content presentation may be output via a display device ofthe computing device that is located on what is considered thefront-side of the device. The back-side of the device (e.g., a sideopposite the display device used to present the content) can beactivated to enable various “on-skin” gestures to control the contentpresentation. By way of example, a user may be able to interact on theback-side to perform browser functions to navigate web content, playbackfunctions to control a video or music presentation, and/or readingfunctions to change pages of digital book, change viewing settings, zoomin/out, scroll left/right, and so forth. The back-side gestures do notocclude or otherwise interfere with the presentation of content via thefront side display as with some traditional techniques. Naturally,device edges and other surfaces may be activated in a comparable way inrelation to various different contexts. A variety of other scenarios and“on-skin” gestures are also contemplated.

As mentioned, skins sensors 120 may be configured to detect interactionwith objects as well as users. For instance, contact across a bottomedge may indicate that a device is being rested on a user's lap or atable. Particular contacts along various surfaces may along indicatethat a device has been placed into a stand. Thus, a context for a devicemay be derived based on interaction with objects. In at least someembodiments, object interactions can be employed as an indication tocontextually distinguish between situations in which a user activelyuses a device, merely holds the device, and/or sets the device down orplaces the device in a purse/bag. Detection of object interactions andcorresponding contexts can drive various responsive actions includingbut not limited to device power management, changes in notificationmodes for email, text messages, and/or phone calls, and display and userinterface modifications, to name a few examples.

Thus, if the skin driver module 116 detects placement of a device on atable or night stand this may trigger power management actions toconserve device power. In addition, this may cause a correspondingselection of a notification mode for the device (e.g., selection betweenvisual, auditory, and/or vibratory modes).

Further, movement of the device against a surface upon which the deviceis placed may also be detected through the skin sensors. This may enablefurther functionality and/or drive further actions. For example, amobile device placed upon a desk (or other object) may act like a mouseor other input control device that causes the device display and userinterface to respond accordingly to movement of the device on the desk.Here, the movement is sensed through the touch-aware skin. The mobiledevice may even operate to control another device to which the mobiledevice is communicatively coupled by a Bluetooth connection or othersuitable connection.

In another example, device to device interactions between devices havingtouch-aware skins, e.g. skin to skin contact, may be detected throughskin sensors and used to implement designated actions in response to theinteraction. Such device to device on-skin interactions may be employedto establish skin to skin coupling for communication, game applications,application information exchange, and the like. Some examples of skin toskin interaction and gestures that may be enabled including aligningdevices in contact end to end to establish a peer to peer connection,bumping devices edge to edge to transfer photos or other specifiedfiles, rubbing surfaces together to exchange contact information, and soforth.

It should be noted again that grip patterns ascertained from skinsensors 120 may be used in combination with other inputs such astouchscreen inputs, an accelerometer, motion sensors, multi-touchinputs, traditional gestures, and so forth. This may improve recognitionof touches and provides mechanisms for various new kinds of gesturesthat rely at least in part upon grip patterns. For example, gesturesthat make used of both on-skin detection and touchscreen functionalitymay be enabled by incorporating a touch-aware skin as described hereinwith a device.

FIG. 5 depicts an example procedure 500 in which a user is identifiedbased on a grip pattern. A grip pattern applied to a computing devicethrough a touch-aware skin is detected (block 502). Grip patterns may bedetected through a touch-aware skin 118 in the manner previouslydescribed. An identity of a user of the computing device is determinedbased upon the detected grip pattern (block 504). This may occur in anysuitable way.

For instance, grip patterns may be used to identify a user of the deviceby the way in which the user holds the device. To do so, particularusers and/or types of users (e.g., adult or child) may be associatedwith a particular grip pattern. This may occur automatically todifferentiate users based upon different grip patterns having differentcontact parameters. For instance, an adult user may be differentiatedfrom a child user based upon at least the size of contact points on theskin. Thus, in some cases a user may be generally identified ascorresponding to a user type based on a grip pattern.

In another approach, users may be specifically identified by associatingindividual users with user specific grip patterns. When a particulargrip pattern is detected, the grip pattern may be matched to aparticular user to determine an identity of the user. In at least someembodiments, the user may register a specific grip pattern to associatewith the user's identity. Thus, one user may register a three fingerhold and another user may register a five finger hold for the purpose ofuser identification. On-skin gestures such as drawing initials on orswiping across a touch-aware skin in a particular manner may also beassociated with user identities. In this approach, the user may beprompted to hold the device in a particular manner or otherwise providegrip-based identifying input.

Additionally or alternatively, a device may be configured toautomatically learn grip patterns and characteristics of different usersand form associations of the learned grip patterns with user identities.These associations may be formed using unregistered grip patterns thatare learned by monitoring user interaction rather than thru explicitregistrations. In this case, a user identity may be resolved based onthe automatically created associations and/or without explicit input ofa grip pattern by the user in response to a prompt.

Once an identity of a user is resolved, one or more features of thecomputing device are adapted to correspond to the determined identity ofthe user (block 506). A variety of user specific customizations arecontemplated. In the case of a general determination of a user as aparticular user type, access control permissions for different usertypes may be enforced. For example, parental controls may be enforcedwhen a user is identified as a child based on the grip pattern.Likewise, when a specific user is identified, corresponding userpreferences, permissions, access rights, and customizations for thedevice may be applied to adapt the device to the particular user. Forinstance, a user specific start-up screen or menu may be launched and/orother selected applications may be automatically launched contextuallybased on the identity. Further different applications and devicefunctionally may be selectively enabled or disabled accordingly to useridentity.

In another example, at least some skins sensors 120 may providefingerprint recognition that may be used to determine user identity. Oneor more fingerprints or partial fingerprints corresponding to contactpoints 304 associated with the user's grip may be recognized throughsuch sensors. Accordingly, if a user picks up and holds a device in aready to use position, the device may be configured to identify the userthrough fingerprint sensors, automatically wake-up, log-in theparticular user, and/or customize the environment in various ways tomatch the identified user. Accordingly, a variety of adaptations may bemade to change features of a device to match a user identity determinedat least in part using a touch-aware skin.

FIG. 6 depicts an example procedure 600 in which designated sensorlocations of a touch-aware skin are employed to define grip patterns andselectively enable device functionality. One or more skin sensorlocations of a touch-aware skin for a computing device are designated(block 602). The sensor locations may correspond to physical sensors ofa touch-aware skin 118. Logical sensor locations may also be defined ona sensor grid, such as the example shown and discussed in relation toFIG. 3. In some approaches, a calibration routine may be executed toestablish locations and calibrate various sensors. This may involveprompting for and tracking touches at various locations on the skin andmultiple surfaces of a device. Accordingly, skin sensors may becalibrated and recalibrated to define sensor locations and avoid havingto precisely align sensor during manufacturing.

Grip patterns are defined that reflect particular touch interaction withparticular skin sensor locations (block 604). Here, various grippatterns can be established and related to contact points upon the skinof a device. Grip patterns may be also associated with particularactions, users, types of users, device functionality and/or devicecontexts in a grip pattern database or otherwise.

A grip pattern is detected based on input received at the skin sensorlocations through the touch-aware skin (block 606) and grip dependentfunctionality of the computing device corresponding to the detected grippattern is enabled (block 608). For example, a skin driver module 116may be implemented to distinguish between various grip patterns based oninput obtained from skin sensors 120 as previously described. Once agrip pattern is detected, various actions can be taken to customize adevice and the user experience to match the detected grip pattern, someexamples of which were previously described. This may includeselectively turning various functionality of the device on or off. Ingeneral, at least some functionality of the device may be dependent upona corresponding grip pattern. For example, touchscreen functionalityand/or particular touchscreen gestures may be adjusted based on a grippattern. This may include changing touch sensitivity in different areasof the device, enabling or disabling touchscreen gestures based on acontext associated with a grip pattern, activating combination gesturesthat are triggered by a combination of grip-based input (e.g., on-skininput) and touchscreen gestures, and so forth. Thus, grip patterns maybe used in various ways to modify the functionality provided by a deviceat different times.

Having discussed some example procedures, consider now an example systemthat can be employed in one or more embodiments to implement aspects ofskinnable touch device grip pattern techniques described herein.

Example System

FIG. 7 illustrates an example system generally at 700 that includes anexample computing device 702 that is representative of one or morecomputing systems and/or devices that may implement the varioustechniques described herein. The computing device 702 may be, forexample, a server of a service provider, a device associated with theclient (e.g., a client device), an on-chip system, and/or any othersuitable computing device or computing system.

The example computing device 702 includes a processing system 704 thatmay incorporate one or more processors or processing devices, one ormore computer-readable media 706 which may include one or more memoryand/or storage components 708, and one or more input/output (I/O)interfaces 710 for input/output (I/O) devices. Computer-readable media706 and/or one or more I/O devices may be included as part of, oralternatively may be coupled to, the computing device 702. Asillustrated, the processing system 704 may also include one or morehardware elements 712 representative of functionality to implement atleast some aspects of the procedures and techniques described herein inhardware. Although not shown, the computing device 702 may furtherinclude a system bus or data transfer system that couples the variouscomponents one to another. A system bus can include any one orcombination of different bus structures, such as a memory bus or memorycontroller, a peripheral bus, a universal serial bus, and/or a processoror local bus that utilizes any of a variety of bus architectures.

The processing system 704, processors, and hardware elements 712 are notlimited by the materials from which they are formed or the processingmechanisms employed therein. For example, processors may be comprised ofsemiconductor(s) and/or transistors (e.g., electronic integratedcircuits (ICs)). In such a context, processor-executable instructionsmay be electronically-executable instructions. The memory/storagecomponent 708 represents memory/storage capacity associated with one ormore computer-readable media. The memory/storage component 708 mayinclude volatile media (such as random access memory (RAM)) and/ornonvolatile media (such as read only memory (ROM), Flash memory, opticaldisks, magnetic disks, and so forth). The memory/storage component 708may include fixed media (e.g., RAM, ROM, a fixed hard drive, etc.) aswell as removable media (e.g., a Flash memory drive, a removable harddrive, an optical disk, and so forth).

Input/output interface(s) 710 allow a user to enter commands andinformation to computing device 702, and also allow information to bepresented to the user and/or other components or devices using variousinput/output devices. Examples of input devices include a keyboard, acursor control device (e.g., a mouse), a microphone, a scanner, and soforth. Examples of output devices include a display device (e.g., amonitor or projector), speakers, a printer, a network card, and soforth.

Various techniques may be described herein in the general context ofsoftware, hardware, or program modules. Generally, such modules includeroutines, programs, objects, elements, components, data structures, andso forth that perform particular tasks or implement particular abstractdata types. The terms “module,” “functionality,” and “component” as usedherein generally represent software, firmware, hardware, or acombination thereof. The features of the techniques described herein areplatform-independent, meaning that the techniques may be implemented ona variety of commercial computing platforms having a variety ofprocessing systems, hardware elements, computer-readable media and/ormemory/storage components.

An implementation of the described modules and techniques may be storedon or transmitted across some form of computer-readable media. Thecomputer-readable media may include a variety of available medium ormedia that may be accessed by a computing device. By way of example, andnot limitation, computer-readable media may include “computer-readablestorage media” and “communication media.”

“Computer-readable storage media” may refer to media and/or devices thatenable persistent and/or non-transitory storage of information incontrast to mere signal transmission, carrier waves, or signals per se.Thus, computer-readable storage media refers to non-signal bearingmedia. The computer-readable storage media includes volatile andnon-volatile, removable and non-removable media and/or storage devicesimplemented in a method or technology suitable for storage ofinformation such as computer readable instructions, data structures,program modules, logic elements/circuits, or other data. Examples ofcomputer-readable storage media may include, but are not limited to,RAM, ROM, EEPROM, flash memory or other memory technology, CD-ROM,digital versatile disks (DVD) or other optical storage, hard disks,magnetic cassettes, magnetic tape, magnetic disk storage or othermagnetic storage devices, or other storage device, tangible media, orarticle of manufacture suitable to store the desired information andwhich may be accessed by a computer.

“Communication media” may refer to a signal bearing medium that isconfigured to transmit instructions to the hardware of the computingdevice, such as via a network. Communication media typically may embodycomputer readable instructions, data structures, program modules, orother data in a modulated data signal, such as carrier waves, datasignals, or other transport mechanism. Communication media also includeany information delivery media. The term “modulated data signal” means asignal that has one or more of its characteristics set or changed insuch a manner as to encode information in the signal. By way of example,and not limitation, communication media include wired media such as awired network or direct-wired connection, and wireless media such asacoustic, RF, infrared, and other wireless media.

Hardware elements 712 are representative of instructions, modules,programmable device logic and/or fixed device logic implemented in ahardware form that may be employed in some embodiments to implement atleast some aspects of the described techniques. Hardware elements mayinclude components of an integrated circuit or on-chip system, anapplication-specific integrated circuit (ASIC), a field-programmablegate array (FPGA), a complex programmable logic device (CPLD), and soforth. In this context, a hardware element may operate as a processingdevice that performs program tasks defined by instructions, modules,and/or logic embodied by the hardware element.

Combinations of the foregoing may also be employed to implement varioustechniques and modules described herein. Accordingly, software,hardware, or program modules, including the skin driver module 116,device applications 110, and other program modules, may be implementedas one or more instructions and/or logic embodied on some form ofcomputer-readable media and/or by one or more hardware elements 712. Thecomputing device 702 may be configured to implement particularinstructions and/or functions corresponding to the software and/orhardware modules. The instructions and/or functions may beexecutable/operable by one or more articles of manufacture (for example,one or more computing devices 702 and/or processing systems 704) toimplement techniques, modules, and example procedures for skinnabletouch device grip patterns described herein.

As further illustrated in FIG. 7, the example system 700 enablesubiquitous environments for a seamless user experience when runningapplications on a personal computer (PC), a television device, and/or amobile device. Services and applications run substantially similar inall three environments for a common user experience when transitioningfrom one device to the next while utilizing an application, playing avideo game, watching a video, and so on.

In the example system 700, multiple devices are interconnected through acentral computing device. The central computing device may be local tothe multiple devices or may be located remotely from the multipledevices. In one embodiment, the central computing device may be a cloudof one or more server computers that are connected to the multipledevices through a network, the Internet, or other data communicationlink. In one embodiment, this interconnection architecture enablesfunctionality to be delivered across multiple devices to provide acommon and seamless experience to a user of the multiple devices. Eachof the multiple devices may have different physical requirements andcapabilities, and the central computing device uses a platform to enablethe delivery of an experience to the device that is both tailored to thedevice and yet common to all devices. In one embodiment, a class oftarget devices is created and experiences are tailored to the genericclass of devices. A class of devices may be defined by physicalfeatures, types of usage, or other common characteristics of thedevices.

In various implementations, the computing device 702 may assume avariety of different configurations, such as for computer 714, mobile716, and television 718 uses. Each of these configurations includesdevices that may have generally different constructs and capabilities,and thus the computing device 702 may be configured according to one ormore of the different device classes. For instance, the computing device702 may be implemented as the computer 714 class of a device thatincludes a personal computer, desktop computer, a multi-screen computer,laptop computer, netbook, and so on.

The computing device 702 may also be implemented as the mobile 716 classof device that includes mobile devices, such as a mobile phone, portablemusic player, portable gaming device, a tablet computer, a multi-screencomputer, and so on. The computing device 702 may also be implemented asthe television 718 class of device that includes devices having orconnected to generally larger screens in casual viewing environments.These devices include televisions, set-top boxes, gaming consoles, andso on. The techniques described herein may be supported by these variousconfigurations of the computing device 702 and are not limited to thespecific examples the techniques described herein. This is illustratedthrough inclusion of the device applications 110 on the computing device702. Functionality of one or more device applications 110 may also beimplemented all or in part through use of a distributed system, such asover a “cloud” 720 via a platform 722.

The cloud 720 includes and/or is representative of a platform 722 forresources 724. The platform 722 abstracts underlying functionality ofhardware (e.g., servers) and software resources of the cloud 720. Theresources 724 may include applications and/or data that can be utilizedwhile computer processing is executed on servers that are remote fromthe computing device 702. Resources 724 can also include servicesprovided over the Internet and/or through a subscriber network, such asa cellular or Wi-Fi network.

The platform 722 may abstract resources and functions to connect thecomputing device 702 with other computing devices. The platform 722 mayalso serve to abstract scaling of resources to provide a correspondinglevel of scale to encountered demand for the resources 724 that areimplemented via the platform 722. Accordingly, in an interconnecteddevice embodiment, implementation of the functionality described hereinmay be distributed throughout the system 700. For example, thefunctionality may be implemented in part on the computing device 702 aswell as via the platform 722 that abstracts the functionality of thecloud 720.

CONCLUSION

Although the invention has been described in language specific tostructural features and/or methodological acts, it is to be understoodthat the invention defined in the appended claims is not necessarilylimited to the specific features or acts described. Rather, the specificfeatures and acts are disclosed as example forms of implementing theclaimed invention.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: obtaining input associatedwith a plurality of skin sensors of a touch-aware skin for a computingdevice, the plurality of skin sensors disposed across available outersurfaces of a housing for the computing device to form a continuousgrid; detecting a combination of a grip pattern and a device placementbased upon the input; ascertaining a context for the computing deviceassociated with the combination of the grip pattern and the deviceplacement as detected, the device placement corresponding at least inpart to contact between the computing device and an object; selectivelyactivating and deactivating grip sensing and touch input of the skinsensors associated with different outer surfaces according to theascertained context; and selectively customizing interaction with thecomputing device according to the ascertained context.
 2. A method asdescribed in claim 1, wherein the grip pattern corresponds to aparticular way in which a user holds the computing device.
 3. A methodas described in claim 1, wherein detecting the input indicative of ascenario of use comprises detecting one or more contact points of thetouch-aware skin with at least one of a user or the object.
 4. A methodas described in claim 1, wherein at least one of said skin sensors isconfigured as a capacitive touch sensor to detect interaction of usersand objects on and proximate to a surface of the touch-aware skin.
 5. Amethod as described in claim 1, wherein selectively customizinginteraction comprises modifying a user interface for the computingdevice to optimize the user interface for the ascertained context.
 6. Amethod as described in claim 1, wherein selectively customizinginteraction comprises adapting a soft keyboard for the computing deviceto optimize the soft keyboard by changing one or more of a size, alocation, or sensitivity of keyboard keys for the soft keyboardaccording to the detected grip pattern.
 7. A method as described inclaim 1, wherein selectively customizing interaction comprises changingtouch sensitivity for one or more locations on a touchscreen of thecomputing device based upon the detected grip pattern to decreaseunintentional triggering of touchscreen functionality due to handpositions.
 8. A method as described in claim 1, wherein selectivelycustomizing interaction according to the ascertained context comprises:enabling one or more on-skin gestures, enabling one or more on-screengestures, and enabling one or more combination gestures that combineon-skin input and on-screen input.
 9. A computing device comprising: aprocessing system; a touch-aware skin having one or more skin sensorsthat form a grid substantially covering outer surfaces of the computingdevice including over edges and a back-side of the computing device; anda skin driver module operable via the processing system to control thetouch-aware skin; including: obtaining input received via the one ormore skin sensors at designated locations of the touch-aware skin;detecting a combination of a grip pattern and a device placement basedupon the input received at the designated locations of the touch-awareskin, the device placement corresponding at least in part to contactbetween the computing device and an object; deriving a context forinteraction with the device that reflects the combination of the grippattern and the device placement as detected; selectively activating anddeactivating grip sensing and touch input of the one or more skinsensors according to the derived context; selectively adjustingsensitivity of the one or more skin sensors corresponding to the derivedcontext; and enabling grip dependent functionality of the computingdevice corresponding to the derived context.
 10. A computing device asdescribed in claim 9, wherein the grid is formed as a grid of wiredsensors molded into a housing of the computing device.
 11. A computingdevice as described in claim 9, wherein enabling grip dependentfunctionality comprises: determining an identity of a user of thecomputing device based upon the detected grip pattern; enforcingparental controls when the user is identified as a child based upon thedetected grip pattern; and adapting one or more features of thecomputing device to correspond to the determined identity of the user.12. A computing device as described in claim 9, wherein enabling gripdependent functionality comprises activating multiple different surfacesof the computing device for touch-based interaction based upon thedetected grip pattern.
 13. A computing device as described in claim 9,wherein enabling grip dependent functionality comprises activating oneor more on-skin gestures applicable to the touch-aware skin based uponthe detected grip pattern.
 14. A computing device as described in claim9, wherein enabling grip dependent functionality comprises: ascertaininga content viewing context corresponding to the detected grip pattern inwhich a content presentation is output for viewing via a display deviceof the computing device; and activating the back-side of the computingdevice for input of one or more on-skin gestures to control the contentpresentation.
 15. A computing device as described in claim 9, whereinenabling grip dependent functionality comprises implementing one or moreon-skin controls for selected device functionality on one or moresurfaces of the touch-aware skin based upon a context associated withthe detected grip pattern.
 16. A computing device as described in claim9, wherein the one or more sensors are configured to detect directcontact with the touch-aware skin, proximity to the touch-aware skin,forces applied to the touch-aware skin, and deformations of thetouch-aware skin.
 17. A computing device as described in claim 9,wherein the touch-aware skin is configured as a removable add-on for thecomputing device.
 18. One or more computer-readable storage mediastoring instructions that, when executed via a computing device, causethe computing device to implement a skin driver module configured toperform operations including: detecting input applied to the computingdevice through a touch-aware skin of the computing device configured asa grid of sensors formed within the touch-aware skin substantiallycovering at least a back side of the computing device; detecting acombination of a grip pattern and a device placement based upon theapplied input; ascertaining a context for the computing device thatreflects the combination of the grip pattern and the device placement asdetected, the device placement corresponding at least in part to contactbetween the computing device and an object; determining an identity of auser of the computing device based upon the detected grip pattern;selectively activating and deactivating grip sensing and touch input ofthe sensors according to the ascertained context; selectively turningsensitivity of the activated sensors up or down based upon theascertained context; and adapting one or more features of the computingdevice to correspond to the determined identity of the user.
 19. One ormore computer-readable storage media as described in claim 18, whereinadapting one or more features of the computing device comprisesautomatically applying user preferences and permissions corresponding tothe identity of the user that is determined.
 20. One or morecomputer-readable storage media as described in claim 18, whereindetermining the identity of the user comprises: associating the userwith a grip pattern registered by the user; and matching the detectedgrip pattern to the grip pattern registered by the user to resolve theidentity of the user.